


Never Anywhere But Here

by JemTheKingOfSass



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Splash Free, M/M, Prince Haruka, Reverse Splash Free, merman Rin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-10 21:53:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16463033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JemTheKingOfSass/pseuds/JemTheKingOfSass
Summary: With a shower of droplets and an arcing flourish, a shining, glistening being breaks the surface, lunging towards Haruka. He tries to take a step back, but loses his balance and sits down hard in the sand, hands planted behind him, toes still in the lake. His mind screams to scramble away, put distance between him andwhateveris hovering over him, eclipsing the moon, which for the first time illuminates the oasis like the sun. He’s tugged gently but firmly by his wet ankles until his entire lower half rests in the crystal clear water. Long, pale arms are planted on either side of him and a fuzzy red halo encircles the head directly above him, stars providing a transcendent glow.





	Never Anywhere But Here

**Author's Note:**

> There can never be too much Splash Free, amiright? I turned it on its head a bit because I wanted an excuse for merRin. That's it, that's the whole reason.

 

 

* * *

 

Haruka’s eyes blink open as the sounds of gentle splashing slip into the lavish bedroom and rouse him from slumber. The noise is too quiet to be coming from the main pool, but he's sure his private oasis is too far away to be audible from the bedroom windows. He left his water only a few short hours earlier, and it had definitely been devoid of life when he walked away, grudgingly dragging himself to bed. He's not sure why he abandons his secret lake each night, he's certain he could sleep while floating if he had to. He'd love to believe he's annoyed at being woken up in the middle of the night, any excuse to return to his favorite spot just outside the palace borders is a good one, even one that currently might lead to the discovery of an undesirable intruder. This interruption is not as bothersome as he wants it to be, as it should be. Overheated feet land on cool tiles and a gauzy bathrobe is thrown over loose sleep pants before Haruka shimmies out the window, no guards stationed on the interior of the palace overnight.

This is not Haruka’s first time sneaking out of his quarters under the starlight; his water lures him at all hours and has for quite some time.

Colorful walls, open walkways, creeping greenery, all pass by in a repetitive memorized blur as Haruka is drawn to his hidden paradise tucked far behind the palace, away from any and all prying eyes, including those of his parents. He quickly reaches the courtyard. They had added to the main pool as a present for him years ago on his thirteenth birthday, sloping the floor, adding gold flakes to the grout, altering the color scheme to various shades of his favorite aquatic color. It is truly fit for a prince and Haruka loathes it. His parents like ornate, shiny, rich things, deeming anything with precious metals or jewels as worthy of royalty, worthy of the Nanase name. When he swims here, his personal attendant watches over him like a hawk while his personal bodyguard stands sentinel within arms reach. He loves them fiercely like brothers yet doesn’t want them hovering over him, fussing over his well-being. Haruka lives for freedom and longs to escape the responsibility that tethers his future to the throne. When he dives alone into the clear, undisturbed water beyond the gardens, he can break away from the heat and pressure of everything that threatens to smother him. 

The stony path winds its way through the flowers and bushes, Haruka’s feet silent as he weaves his way to the fork in the path, the sound of someone using his hidden lake growing louder with every step. An imposing row of shrubbery looms before him, top branches well over his head, but Haruka is too familiar with this journey to be intimidated. He steps through the slight gap between the trunks and listens carefully, loud, moist slapping sounds reaching his ears. For a moment, he considers turning back, but his curiosity is too strong and Haruka is not one to turn down a challenge, even one issued from himself. 

Haruka is mere steps from the copse of palm trees, smooth stepping stones already chilly under his feet despite being baked in the scorching sun all day. His heart rate steadily increases, he senses it pounding in his temples. Abruptly, the atmosphere shifts, Haruka _feels_ it, and a heavy stillness settles over him, even quieting the anxious rush of blood in his ears. The splashes have ceased and a low, mellow humming takes their place. The melody is haunting, ethereal, and it spills outward towards him; enchanted, Haruka resumes his midnight trek. 

As soon as Haruka breaches the trees, his feet sinking into the soft warm sand, the music halts, the sudden silence deafening. The moon shines brightly on the undisturbed surface of the lake, flat and gleaming like glass. Haruka stares, frowning, confused, unsure at a first glance what visitor is swimming and singing; it appears as though nothing has been in the water since he left it hours ago. He glances around in uncertainty, noticing the clarity of the air. He can see the entirety of the oasis. From where he stands now, a wispy fog has always hovered above the vast expanse of the water, obscuring his vision from one end of the lake to the other. The air has shifted and flowed around him as he swims, ever present, a damp atmospheric blanket that he doesn’t realize he has been relying on for privacy and stealth. In the half-dozen years he has been coming here, the haze has been a stalwart companion.

Tonight, Haruka feels exposed. 

Closing his eyes, Haruka tugs off his robe and steps out of his pants. As his foot lands back on the sand, he hears something gracefully slip into the water, and he snaps his eyes open. A concentric ripple flows by the shore directly across from where he stands. 

Haruka waits, eyebrows knit in disbelief and body frozen with unease, as long minutes pass and nothing appears to breathe, to gasp in the precious air that is elusive below the surface. He wants to keep himself planted on firm ground, doesn't particularly desire to come face to face with whatever is in the lake, yet can't combat the irresistible pull of the water. Haruka shuffles to the edge, immersing his toes into the liquid he craves with his entire self, that he uses to pretend he has nothing to accomplish, the expectations of a kingdom heavy on someone else’s shoulders when he is submerged. His hidden lake taunts him with promises of being ordinary, there is no awaiting crown hidden in its depths. 

With a shower of droplets and an arcing flourish, a shining, glistening being breaks the surface, lunging towards Haruka. He tries to take a step back, but loses his balance and sits down hard in the sand, hands planted behind him, toes still in the lake. His mind screams to scramble away, put distance between him and _whatever_ is hovering over him, eclipsing the moon, which for the first time illuminates the oasis like the sun. He’s tugged gently but firmly by his wet ankles until his entire lower half rests in the crystal clear water. Long, pale arms are planted on either side of him and a fuzzy red halo encircles the head directly above him, stars providing a transcendent glow. 

Haruka gapes.

Lustrous crimson eyes stare down at Haruka, unblinking, crinkled at the edges with amusement. A heavy, rough weight rests between his thighs, scratching his bare flesh. He sees a sharp chin, high cheekbones, skin smooth and white like porcelain. Haruka instinctively reaches a hand up to touch, an urge he should suppress, but cannot find the strength within himself to stop. His fingers move with a life of their own; he stares with wonder as they act without his consent, grazing the angles of the face above him, the moment ephemeral. The thin gossamer strands of this web have already ensnared him.

Haruka forgets the water, doesn’t consider that this trespasser is invading his secret space, his cherished lake, the solitary place he uses as his escape from _everything_. As he touches, uninvited but not rejected, distraction is the last thing on his mind. A languid splash sounds in his ears, cutting through the fog in his mind. He wrenches his hand away from this stranger’s face, grounded again in the sand underneath him. He peers around a pale, broad shoulder and the air rushes out of him. 

A brilliant scarlet fishtail lies between his legs, scales glimmering like rubies as the moon dances off them, long translucent tail fins idly flicking into the shallow water, the hue matching Haruka’s blush-stained skin. The longer he looks, the more color he notices on the large muscular tail, all shades of reds and oranges and pinks represented in a shimmering display that Haruka is convinced is solely for him. This is _his_ lake, which makes this creature his, whether real or a figment of an overactive, lonesome imagination.

“Pinch me.”

A charmed expression reflects his request, and Haruka wonders if this dream hallucination can understand him, his words, his meaning. A sharp, stinging pain shoots up his side, and when he glances down in surprise, he sees slender, webbed fingers resting on his tingling skin. 

“Do you believe what you’re seeing?” A rich, musical voice fills the air, reverberating in his ears, shooting lightning up Haruka’s spine. Awareness courses through him all the way to his fingertips. 

Haruka swallows with difficulty. “I believe you are real even if I am imagining you.” This delights the fish creature, his eyes spark with amusement. “Are you a mermaid?”

The hand abruptly leaves Haruka’s side, and the pretty face rears back, appearing mildly affronted. “I’m a mer _man_.” He leans back down into Haruka’s space, clearly comfortable closing any distance, perhaps unaware of personal boundaries, yet Haruka cannot bring himself to care. He lifts himself off the sand slightly to lessen the gap even further. 

“Do you have a name?” They are close enough together that Haruka feels the puffs of cool breath on his face as the merman chuckles at his query. He should be perturbed at a simple question becoming a source of mirth, yet he is strangely content, emotionally paralyzed as he listens to the chill of the lilting laughter dancing across his overheated cheeks. 

“I’m Rin.” He winks at Haruka. “And you’re Haru.”

With one last amused grunt, the merman pushes up, away from Haruka, and slithers backwards until he’s submerged in the lake, quickly disappearing under the surface, gentle rippling of the water bearing the only evidence that Haruka’s sanctuary has been disturbed. 

Haruka scrambles to his knees and crawls, following Rin without a second-thought, slipping into the water only slightly less gracefully than the creature who resides within its depths. He ducks his head under the water and opens his eyes, the clarity of his lake never as fully appreciated as highly as this moment. He swivels his head in every direction, desperate to catch a glimpse of the merman in his element, needing to see that tail again, in action, on an attractive display for his eyes only. Cursing his need for oxygen, he stretches for the surface, breaking through and gulping in air. 

Long, cold fingers wrap around his ankle again and tug him downwards. Haruka heaves in a last breath and snaps his mouth shut as he is hauled under. 

Laughter bubbles throughout the water, swirls around Haruka, as his leg is released and the flashing vermilion tail sweeps underneath him. He spins around only to catch the flick of blush fins disappearing below his feet once more. Red fills his vision, floating upwards past his face, this merman’s game of hide and seek now leading Haruka back to the surface. He blindly follows, not for air, but to satisfy his curiosity; he couldn't stay behind if his life depended on exercising restraint. 

Haruka’s head crashes through the surface, he flicks water out of his hair and opens his eyes. Rin is directly in front of him, watching him carefully, running his curious gaze over every part of Haruka he can see. His forearms are clasped in a sudden grip and he’s dragged forward until their noses are just shy of brushing. He feels the nip of the words more than he hears them, he’s focused on Rin’s mouth and its proximity to his own. Haruka has never been drugged, not wanting to have his perception altered or his mental acuity skewed, but he assumes this is a similar experience. 

“Are you the only one who uses this lake?” Haruka wrenches his gaze off the merman’s sakura pink lips and stares into shining crimson pools instead. He scowls as he considers the answer.

“No one else has ever been here. It is always just me. Until tonight.” Quite unintentionally, Haruka realizes he has never brought anyone here, not his personal attendant, not his parents. Once he planned on dragging Rei through the gardens, yearning for a fleeting moment to share his sacred spot with a living human being, yet remembers with a stunning clarity that he had led them down the wrong path and lost his way amongst the flowers, unable to locate the guardian trees no matter how hard he sought them. Somehow, he has never longed to bring anyone to his lake again, not since that futile attempt a few years ago.

Somehow.

And yet.

Rin belongs here. Haruka understands this on a fundamental level, with a level of certainty that leaves him reeling. It bothers him when he examines the thought too closely. He obviously never invited Rin here, and he is here regardless.

Clearly, this is not Haruka’s personal oasis as he has always assumed. This has never truly been a private, tucked away space in which he can lose himself, hiding away from the burden of the crown, swimming and soaking away his nagging troubles and pensive thoughts, whiling away time as though it’s an endless resource, keeping him whole until his title cannot be avoided any longer. It’s never been solely his and he has never truly escaped the significance of his obligations, not even while he’s been here. Perhaps now that someone else has discovered his sanctuary, the water is merely another source of expectations, forcing him into a role in order to fulfill some nameless, unchosen commitment. Upon his discovery of this place years ago, it had been a welcome relief from the erratic weather plaguing the kingdom at the time, wild winds and thrashing thunderstorms that had been pounding the sand every night for weeks on end. Now Haruka feels a similar pressure building within him, and wouldn’t be surprised if he could form crackling lightning from his mundane human fingertips.

Rin’s eyes search his face, boring into Haruka with such intensity that he is sure his mind is being picked apart and scrutinized. His arms are burning where they are held, he expects to see handprints scorched onto his skin as a reminder of this intrusion. This place is different now, electric and intoxicating and demanding; despite the lake appearing undisturbed, he senses it churning around him, through him, knocking him off course. Waves crash within his body, tossing him around as though he’s weightless, imposing on his seclusion. The water isn’t safe anymore.

Haruka needs to escape. He has nowhere to go, no place is free.

Haruka wrenches his arms loose and hauls himself out of the lake, chest heaving, heart relentlessly thundering, muffling Rin’s words. He’s saying something, Haruka doesn’t want to hear, can’t listen, won’t take on a new emotional chore. He is already drowning.

The water no longer holds him together; it is ripping Haruka apart as it challenges him, weighs him down with new and different assumptions and expectations. Despair washes over him. He doesn’t know what the water asks of him, but he has no answers and _nothing_ left to give.

The prince unravels before he runs, pieces of vague and formless dreams scattering in all directions, flying aimlessly away from him before he understands enough to retrieve them.

 

* * *

 

Haruka steadfastly avoids his oasis as the sun continues to rise and set, matching the prince's stubborn determination. He doesn’t want anyone in his space, overwhelming him, humans, animals, or mermen alike. In the years since he discovered his secret lake, it has been a constant presence in his life, one that never fails to soothe him and remind him of who he is underneath the title and accompanying expectations. The storms that had been ceaselessly battering the palace had abated upon Haruka’s return from the lake the night of his initial discovery. A childish part of him had believed at the time that somehow he’d brought the calm back from the oasis; perhaps serenity resides within him and he has simply been able to provide the kingdom with something that does not require him to wear the crown. At times, though older and far less fanciful, he still feels as though the oasis comprehends his struggles and had revealed itself to him the first time, at a moment he most needed a guiding hand to navigate the complex and expectant journey towards his apparently unavoidable future. Unfortunately, he still relies on that support and flails without it.

Haruka grasps that the very existence of Rin should be the concept that shakes his sanity, rattles his composure, causes his stomach to clench painfully whenever he dines alone. It shouldn’t be the loss of his false sanctuary and erroneous freedom, except _it is_. He is grateful he rarely sees his parents for he wouldn’t be able to hide his selfish distress over losing his solitude, a perk that has always been discouraged. Royalty isn’t allowed privacy or self-reflection, they are duty-bound to their people, even while remaining superior and feigning prowess. Preparing to someday appear as an exceptional and proficient ruler of the kingdom is a concept more mythical to Haruka than the existence of merfolk.

And it’s everything Haruka does not want to be.

The prince valiantly attempts to focus on his studies, his training, his obligations, anything that could possibly keep his mind occupied, despite all those subjects being the very things that drive him to the hidden water. He swims daily in the courtyard pool, except gets agitated at his personal attendant, frustrated with his bodyguard, and he cannot prevent his thoughts from narrowing down to a single topic. Creatures of legend. Folklore. Mermaids. 

Merman. 

_Rin._

With an aggravated splash, Haruka slams his open palms down on the surface of the pool just as the bodyguard turns to assess the situation. He drags himself out of the water, dripping all over the tiles, traitorous liquid running down his face in angry rivulets. His brilliant, dependable, and favorite personal attendant approaches him cautiously. They have known each other since infancy and Rei is no stranger to Haruka's tantrums. The sun glinting off blue-tinted hair, he holds out a towel to wrap snugly around the prince. 

“No, Rei.” Haruka holds up a hand, halting his progress. “Let me be. I’m going to my chambers and I don’t want any assistance. None.” With that last pointed comment, he spins on his heel and glares at his burly bodyguard, whom he has been acquainted with since the womb, and he has trusted with his secrets and his life nearly as long.

Teal eyes narrow, as a scowl more firmly affixes itself to a rugged face. “Prince Haruka, your father told me specifically to-”

“Stop. Do not ‘prince’ me. And I do not want accompaniment right now, Sousuke. I want to be alone. I take full responsibility for myself, and I will tell Father that if it becomes a problem.” Haruka stalks away from the courtyard, annoyance radiating off him in waves. He knows both men will trail after him, plant themselves outside his door, awaiting his next move so they can resume their job of being his hands, his eyes and ears, his shadows. He has grown up with both of them and is well aware they stopped being merely his friends years ago, once they all received titles bearing job expectations.

The next few months pass in agonizing restriction for Haruka as he attempts to live as his parents demand, acting as the crown prince of Iwatobi properly should. He sits in on strategy meetings with the soldiers, entertains visiting dignitaries, studies his lessons in language and history. Haruka attends all meals, where he eats in an atmosphere of silence and tension, his mother and father dining at the other end of the high table. He thinks maybe he will learn how to accept his role in this life, yet feels no relief from the pressure no matter how long he grinds at his responsibilities. The noose tightens as the days march forward.

The water calls for Haruka, but he steadfastly ignores it, focusing on his duties and lamenting the loss of his privacy, the taste of freedom formerly found in his oasis bitter on his tongue.

The water craves him, but he battles through the pain and refuses it. 

Haruka is home, yet remains lost.

 

* * *

 

After darkness falls one evening, Haruka is more restless than usual. He hasn’t heard any noise from the oasis in months, not since he ran away from the water without so much as a goodbye to the merman. He strains his ears, heaving in deep breaths and willing his pounding heart to abandon its hammering pulse in order to ease into a calm life-sustaining rhythm. He does not spare the time to ready himself for bed, waving off Rei's assistance, and merely lays down, willing himself into an uneasy slumber. He tosses and turns in his linen sheets, overheated, mind relentlessly churning with visions of flowing hair, sparkling eyes, shining scales.

Red.

 _Red_.

_**Red.** _

Haruka jolts back to consciousness as the singing flows into the room, spilling over the window ledge, soft tendrils of sound reaching out in temptation to lure him into motion. The music fills him, it’s all he can hear as he creeps out his window and through the courtyard. He winds his way through the garden until he is rooted in front of the cluster of palm trees that separate him from his oasis, the sky a black canvas overhead, the only light provided by a thousand pinpricks of stars and a glowing milk-white moon. The gentle humming ceases as Haruka stands, trying to figure out how he got here, unsure if the music brought him or his own desperate need for the water charmed him to come back. 

He has longed to return to the oasis since the moment he walked away. The water may have used its siren song to reawaken him, but now he is desperate to immerse himself once more. He’s already drifted too far from anything he fully understands, it’s time to find himself, and Haruka is certain answers are located within the anomalous boundaries of the oasis.

Haruka steps through the palm trees, warm sand immediately comforting him and rooting him to this private world. The air is as clear as the night he left, the fog still lifted in the oasis. He scans the lake and surrounding area, searching for any hints that he is not alone here. 

Nothing.

No one.

All Haruka sees is the reflection of the night sky on the calm surface of the water, muted blues and blacks bleeding into the drab shore. It’s the same as it was before, but it’s entirely different, it’s changed. _He’s changed_ except he has no grasp of how or why or what he has ever done to challenge expectation. The oasis has never felt so empty, so lifeless. It’s calm and isolated and there are no demands on him here, which is everything he believed that he wanted and yet-

Haruka yearns for color and light and fire that burns so blisteringly hot that it’s ice in his veins. Barring that, at least the comforting embrace of the air around him, the cloudy mist blanketing him in a cool quiet like so many nights in the past. He has never before felt like such an outcast here.

This time, all the smothering expectations come from Haruka himself.

A splash of water, followed by a radiant head of red hair and an alabaster face, tentatively emerges from the middle of the lake. Haruka’s vision never wavers off the figure as he slowly undresses. He runs to the edge of the water and dives in, smooth, sure strokes taking him as far as he needs to go. He pulls up in front of Rin with a gasp, treading water until his legs are swept out from underneath him. He flails once as he falls, but lands gracefully on Rin’s tail, feathery fins sweeping powerfully beneath where he is perched, easily keeping them both afloat.

“How did you find your way to this kingdom, to my private oasis?” Haruka has a million questions for Rin, except he requires an understanding of the forces that brought him _here_ , how he found this particular place out of anywhere else.

Rin’s eyes widen, a brief flash of pain passes over them, their typical gleam looking more like the shine of tears than their natural luminescence, before he blinks it away. “My heart led me here. I’d been trying for over six years, to escape, to-” He cuts himself off and turns his head, a faint blush dusting his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, a light pink that makes Haruka want to see his tail, gloriously cutting through the water, scales sparkling like jewels. 

“To what, Rin?” Haruka’s arms glide idly back and forth in the water in a feeble attempt to assist the merman and maintain balance, though he suspects his efforts are unnecessary. He raises a hand and touches Rin’s chin, turning his face back towards him, the jangle of his bracelets loud against the quiet lapping of the water.

“To be free. To be happy enough to return to this form before I possibly couldn’t.”

Haruka slides his hand to Rin’s cheek in silent encouragement. There’s a tugging in his gut, a hook attached to his navel, keeping him drawn to Rin, unable to pull away even if he wants to leave, which is the very last thing he would possibly want. His heart shifts in his chest, broken pieces slipping into a recognizable pattern, but a slightly different formation than before.

Haruka stares down at the luminous, rosy fishtail smoothly moving underneath the surface, unable to take his eyes off it; he is hypnotized. “This place brings me feelings of contentment and peace as well, it always has.”

Rin frowns and tips his head away from Haruka. “Then why did you stop coming? You have always come.”

Haruka pauses at the implication, digging his hands into the unyielding sinew of Rin’s back. He doesn’t know; there isn’t any reason beyond blind fear of the unknown heaping more pressure on his shoulders, a burden of his own creation, heavy enough to prevent him from seeking refuge. “I thought you would want something from me, something that I do not have to give, expect me to fulfill some demand.”

Rin hums and lowers his tail, unseating Haruka, who slips easily into the water. “Swim with me.”

The moon eases through the sky, ample time spent frolicking and racing as though neither participant holds a care in the world. Tension and unrest slip off Haruka’s soul like so many glistening water droplets off his skin, moments spent with Rin refilling the emptiness within, cracks and fissures that countless expectations have gradually carved. 

Eventually, the prince tires and drags himself to the shore, sinking into the perpetually warm sand. He pats the ground next to him. “Come out for awhile. Surely your tail will not dry up in the dead of night.”

Bright, crimson eyes widen, an unfamiliar hesitancy flickering behind them, before Rin shakes his head, drops of the lake flying off his wild hair. He glides towards the shore as though tugged closer to Haruka by some invisible string. He flops half out of the water, chin in his hands as he props himself up on dry land, fins sporadically swishing back and forth in the shallows behind him.

“Your tail cannot be out of the water at all?” Haruka guesses, disappointment pulsing through him as the implications hit him, specifically how little time he’ll have to visit the oasis when he someday ascends to a throne he does not desire. “But how do you leave the oasis?”

An echo of the forlorn expression is back in Rin’s eyes, an internal battle being waged before Haruka. Before he can stop to consider his actions, the prince scoots forward and clasps a cool, pale hand between his darker warm ones. 

“I-” Rin clamps his lips shut immediately upon opening them, clutching back onto Haruka's hand with inhuman strength. 

Haruka huffs out a laugh, despite his concern, after all, finding a merman in his oasis didn’t prevent him from returning to his favorite spot, so he doubts anything this creature reveals about himself will scare him away. “Tell me, Rin.”

Rin flutters his eyes closed, delicate eyelashes fanning out on his ivory cheeks. Haruka yearns to brush his fingers against them, feel each individual fine hair shift under his touch. His cheeks stain pink, yet when Haruka frees a hand to gently cup one, they prove as cool as ever. “I do not leave the oasis.”

Confusion spikes in Haruka at those words, since there is no food nor drinkable water here. Perhaps merfolk have vastly different needs than humans, and yet something sits uneasy in his gut at this revelation. “Never?”

“Never,” confirms Rin. “I am bound to this lake.”

“Bound?” Haruka questions.

Rin’s opens his eyes as his lips turn downwards. “You should go, Prince Haruka. You have feats to accomplish in your life, a journey that is all your own, one that shouldn’t be tainted by distraction or temptation.”

Haruka glowers at being treated formally and like a child in his sanctuary. He may not appreciate all the pressure of palace life as the crown prince, but he certainly loathes this more. “You sound as though you are protecting me. From what, Rin?”

“From yourself,” murmurs Rin. 

“I am trapped merely by being me. Withholding the truth will not prevent harm. If you are bound to my oasis, than I shall not leave either. Then you will have to tell me someday or you will be keeping a future sultan from his people.” A smug smile graces Haruka's face, which brightens Rin slightly despite the gravity of the knowledge he possesses.

Rin sighs, a war within him, lips and limbs trembling. “I should go, Haru. It would be easier if you’d just return to your palace. Only come back here when you truly have a need for comfort.”

“I am not leaving.” Haruka glowers at Rin as he rises to his feet, fists clenched at his heaving sides. He has tried staying away, avoiding the oasis, but it caused him physical and emotional anguish. Being away from Rin _hurts_ and he doesn’t know why. The merman holds the answers yet clutches them tightly in his grasp, not allowing Haruka even a cursory peek. 

Rin stifles a sob before slithering backwards into the water, disappearing from Haruka’s view. The prince is tempted to jump in after him, except he doubts he can outswim a creature of the water, and he’s suddenly so weary, a bone-deep fatigue settling in his soul. He sinks to his knees at the edge of the lake, trailing fingers through the water as if he could capture Rin in this manner, catch him and shake the nightmares free, regardless of the distress they conceal. 

As the minutes tick past, countless, never ending, Haruka can no longer keep his eyes open. He lays motionless on the sand, hand submerged in the lake, a silent and desperate plea for Rin. “You called me here,” mumbles Haruka, barely clinging to consciousness as the words escape his lips. “You sang and I came.”

Even though the moon shines brightly down into the oasis and the sand is still heated under his body, Haruka is sure Rin has taken the light and warmth with him when he left.

“Why would you lure me here and then leave me?”

 

* * *

 

Haruka wakes with the dawn, bearing a wet hand and a leaden heart. He’s rested but not at peace as he scans his oasis, straining his senses for errant splashes, red features, a shimmering tail painted in the hues of the sunrise.

Nothing. 

The prince sits up and settles in, a weight bearing down on his shoulders in the one place he has always relied on for freedom, as escape from gravity. He blinks, realizing he cannot see far beyond the hand he stretches out towards the water. 

The fog has returned, hanging thick above the lake, contorting itself around Haruka, creeping closer once he notices its presence. It should concern him, put him on edge, except there’s a comforting familiarity to it, calming him and helping him breathe. 

Haruka squints, examining the air around him, as he is enveloped in its chilly embrace. He’s never really scrutinized the fog before, as it’s been a constant part of this hidden refuge since he had first located it several years ago. As he watches the sunlight filter through it, he notices the pink tint to the dense air, suspended water droplets glittering like rubies as they dance throughout the oasis.

 

* * *

 

Time morphs into an illusion as days pass, perhaps weeks, perhaps months, Haruka departing the oasis only occasionally for sustenance. He avoids his parents and palace personnel when he does, with a focus he should apply to preparing for his future on the throne. He attempts to not leave until Rin’s return, except his body nearly collapses and the fog practically pushes him out, Haruka lacking the strength to resist. He crashes face first through the palm trees into the palace gardens, falling to the rocks and losing consciousness, motionless until Sousuke stumbles upon him and lugs him to his chambers. Rei fusses over his dire state while Sousuke berates his lack of self-care, and yet Haruka still sneaks away from them at the first moment that presents itself.

Haruka loses himself to a yearning he cannot quite grasp. If he could hold it in his hands and tenderly caress it with his fingers, maybe he would possess the strength to crush it in his fist before it grows any bigger, though it is already all-consuming, more powerful than Haruka himself. As he sleeps on the shore night after night, his hazy friend descends lower, laying itself along the prince’s shivering form, somehow providing warmth, burning him from the inside out. 

 

* * *

 

The sun is still high in the sky when Haruka rouses himself one nameless afternoon, illumination distorted by the only companion he has within the boundaries of the oasis. He lays his head back on the sand, eyes stuttering closed at another amorphous, indeterminate stretch of time yawning before him, not even the temptation of swimming enough to sustain his attention.

After what feels like mere moments, Haruka cracks his eyes back open when the air shifts around him. His vision is cloudy before he blinks fully to awareness, his surroundings too bright in their startling clarity. The fog has again lifted, and the prince mourns the loss as he recalls the last time it vanished from the oasis. His chin hits his chest, his fingers comb through the sand, and a burbling splash hits his ears.

Haruka raises his head. He is fearful of the hope that bubbles up inside him, desire coursing through his veins, anticipation lifting his spirits for the first time in an endless sea of lost time. The lake is calm, the surface still, and maybe he has now longed for something so extensively he simply imagines its presence saving him from the bottomless abyss. He crawls to the edge of the shore, his palms and knees chewed up by the coarse grains of sand underneath him. Haruka cannot sink any lower, to have daydreamed the movement of the water. He cannot handle the disappointment of losing someone who isn’t his to lose, who hasn’t bothered to come back. He gulps past the rejection lodged in his throat, he actually dared to believe in-

 _Rin_. 

Rin eclipses the light as he rises from the lake and hovers over Haruka, softly smiling, midday sun backlighting him; he glows as the prince falls, his back pressed flush against the rough sand though he feels no discomfort. The merman raises a palm to Haruka’s cheek, gently curving slender fingers around it, a cooling sensation against his flushed skin. Haruka shivers, watching Rin’s lidded gaze as it roams over his face, moving languidly from his eyes down to his mouth. Rin digs a sharp thumb into Haruka’s bottom lip and lowers his head. Haruka surges up to meet him. Their mouths meet in a collision of chilling heat, Haruka can feel Rin _everywhere_ , he is surrounded, he’s out of breath, except drowning doesn’t feel nearly as pleasant as this. The hand on his cheek moves to support his neck while the other grips his waist. Haruka winds both arms around Rin’s neck, tugging him down, holding him close, wondering if they can fuse themselves together if Haruka craves it fervently enough. Haruka is dizzy, weightless, he’s convinced he will float away if Rin lets him go. 

Fingers tangle in the hair at the nape of his neck, Haruka sighs into Rin’s mouth before pulling back, licking his lips, hoping he’ll be able to savor this taste for the rest of his life. Rin’s blushing face is a sight of which Haruka immediately longs to intimately familiarize himself. The fingers threading through his hair tighten and tilt his head so Rin can trail kisses along his jawline, pausing at his ear, shifting back to lightly rub his nose against Haruka’s. 

Rin swallows before speaking, Haruka tracks the bob of his throat. “I didn’t go anywhere.”

Haruka frowns, eyebrows drawn together in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“You deserve the truth. I can’t watch you like this anymore. I thought-” Rin releases Haruka from his hands and averts his eyes, shame distorting his beautiful features. “I thought you would go back and resume your life, I thought you would give up on the oasis until you had a pending need to return. I didn’t realize.”

“What, Rin?” Haruka holds his breath. “What did you not realize?”

“That my presence was so important to your well-being and yet I couldn’t comfort you as much as I could before.” Rin appears wracked with guilt. “Things that were effective before didn’t work as well this time. Hiding my form hurt you and that isn’t ever what I try to do.”

“Hiding your form?” Rin’s ramblings only add to Haruka’s swirling thoughts, more questions appearing before any get answered. “Rin please. What does that mean?”

“Haru, I am your guardian spirit. My function is to help ease your burdens and this oasis is my realm. You discovered it at the same time I thought I had gained my ability to shift into my corporeal form.” Gleaming eyes bore into Haruka at the weight of this confession. 

“But,” begins Haruka hesitantly. “I found this place years ago. I never saw you then.”

A rueful smirk tugs on Rin’s mouth. “You did actually, you have every time you’ve been here, but not like this. I shifted enough to unlock the oasis, except I couldn’t hold it. I wasn’t supposed to be shifting at all until I was healthier.” He notes Haruka’s questioning stare and continues, ducking his head down. “My mother locked my ability until I learned to control my emotions. I was erratic and couldn’t handle my own power enough to help myself, much less help you with anything. I caused problems every time I tried shifting.”

“Problems?” 

“Nasty weather. Rain that fell too fast to be restorative, winds that were destructive, thunder that rattled foundations and lightning that caused brush fires. My mother intervened before I could cause lasting damage to your lands, but I shifted into a merman just long enough to alert you to my presence.” Rin reaches out, grazing Haruka’s fingers, touching with a desperation that the prince understands on a visceral level. He grabs icy and pale webbed hands, squeezing and clinging, unwilling to let Rin go now that he’s back like this, tangible, solid under his palms.

“I remember those storms. You must have been quite upset to lose control of your emotions like that.” Haruka remembers wishing he could rage like the weather, seek and destroy with savage abandon, then recalls how quickly the atmosphere had calmed once he’d set foot back on palace sand. He wonders if somehow he serves a reciprocal purpose for Rin.

A lone tear trickles down Rin’s white cheek, leaving a sparkling trail in its wake; Haruka tips forward to softly kiss it away, not wanting to see Rin shining from anything except his natural radiance. “My father’s soul got destroyed and I didn’t cope well. It took me a long time to deal with my grief over it, and I sometimes still can’t hold my form when his loss overwhelms me. Although,” the merman pauses with a shy grin. “It’s easier when you’re around. You make me want to be even stronger, for you and for myself.”

Haruka is gripping Rin’s hands so tightly his own knuckles ache, yet he cannot bring himself to relinquish any part of this being before him. “You said I have seen you every time I have come here. How do I not remember?”

Rin laughs, a rich and melodic ringing of bells that reverberates throughout Haruka and fills his essence to brimming with contentment. The merman covers Haruka’s face with a cool palm, and tilts his head next to the prince's ear, whispering. “Close your eyes.”

Haruka agrees, though he is tempted to cheat and peek, never one for blind compliance. A chilly familiar air sinks around him, warming him on the inside, alighting his nerves and consuming his senses. Haruka’s eyes fly open. Rin is nowhere to be seen, except- 

_Rin is everywhere._

Haruka’s breath catches and his heart clenches as he finally understands. He has never been alone.

 

* * *

 

  
_**Years later…**_  


 

Haruka slips away to the window, freezing in place when the rumbling voice of his bodyguard hits his ears. He spins in time to see him and Rei hovering by the door.

“Prince Nana-” Sousuke halts his words at the piercing glare directed his way. “Haru, there is hardly time for an excursion. The sultan is waiting for you in the throne room and I finally received word from my friend about your half cousin.”

“Sousuke, I have one thing I need to tend to first. I will return shortly. My parents can wait.” Haruka flings his leg over the sill, though he pauses as the last words finally catch up to him. “So Asahi has an interest in the throne? I wonder why Mother never reached out to that branch of the family.”

“It likely has something to do with her singular desire to see you reign, although it might also be an issue with his chosen partner,” interjects Rei, pushing up his glasses and making a face. “Or do you not recall her disdain for Shigino Kisumi?”

Haruka’s face pinches with annoyance as he shifts his body out the window. “She is not the only one who feels that way about Kisumi.”

“Wait, Prince Haruka!” Rei’s concerned voice is the last thing Haruka hears as he drops to the ground in the manner he has done since he was a young adolescent.

The courtyard and winding garden paths are as familiar as ever, although now Haruka strides through them with a lighter heart and urgency in his step, tension melting away from him as the looming weight of the crown no longer crushes him. Even if it currently remains his burden to bear, he has someone always supporting him, ready to hold him and ground him when doubt and apathy lurk too closely. He idly ponders if this is how he could have felt throughout more of his life had he been aware he wasn’t facing the daunting future all by himself, that he has someone outside the palace resolutely by his side. 

It doesn’t matter. Haruka knows now and he appreciates every second of it, every second with Rin.

Haruka breaks through the tree barrier and sprints to the lake, shedding his clothes as he runs, exuberance spreading throughout him with every step he takes towards the water; he feels like a child again. His body arcs into a perfect curve as he enters the water, eyes bursting open under the surface, searching for his spirit. 

Arms wrap snugly around Haruka from behind, spinning and supporting him with ease, the shimmering tail gliding through the water as rosy tail fins tickle the soles of his feet. Sparkling eyes and a dazzling smile meet the prince, and he lurches forward to return the hug, burying his head in the comforting crook of the merman’s neck. He is happy here, he is calm here, there is nothing more he requires or seeks.

Haruka breathes, fulfilled here in his water, content with his Rin. His oasis.

 

* * *

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> *cries tears of relief* I love this AU and I loved switching things up, but the ending gave me fits! How can I leave Prince Haruka with an entire kingdom on his unwilling shoulders? Maybe with Rin's support and his two childhood friends by his side ( ~~yes I am aware that Makoto is nowhere to be found in this, although he _is_ the friend Sousuke mentions who works for Asahi, but I just like this role for Sousuke better~~ ), he doesn't mind so much. Perhaps, his half-cousin Asahi will eventually take over the day-to-day and leave Prince Haruka as merely the figurehead? Or Asahi will even just take over Haruka's abdicated throne altogether? LOTS OF POSSIBILITIES FOR HARU TO BE HAPPY!（*’∀’人）♡♥♡


End file.
